Data transmission method, user equipment, and base station

ABSTRACT

This disclosure provides a data sending method. The method includes: allocating, by a Media Access Control MAC entity of a first network node, data packets to at least one hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ unit of at least two cells, where the at least two cells use different radio access technologies RATs, the at least two cells share one HARQ unit or each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ unit, and the HARQ unit is a HARQ entity and/or a HARQ process; and sending, by the first network node, the data packets to a second network node by using the at least two cells. According to the foregoing solution, the data packets are allocated to the at least one HARQ unit of the at least two cells by using a shared MAC layer, so as to effectively reduce an end-to-end delay.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/041,511, filed on Jul. 20, 2018, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2017/070737, filed on Jan. 10, 2017.The International Application claims priority to Chinese PatentApplication No. 201610038569.6, filed on Jan. 20, 2016. All of theafore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to the wireless communications field, and inparticular, to a data sending method, a data receiving method, and anapparatus.

BACKGROUND

Multi-radio network standard coordination is also referred to asmulti-radio access technology coordination (Multi-RAT coordination). Amain function of this technology is joint radio resource managementamong networks of different radio access technologies. In the following,the multi-radio network standard coordination is equivalent to themulti-RAT coordination. A radio access technology (RAT) that can beapplied to this technology may include a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), a Global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Long Term Evolution(LTE), a next generation network (such as 5G), or the like.

In an existing multi-RAT coordination technology, protocol stacks ofradio access devices of different radio access networks are complete andindependent, that is, each of the radio access devices of the differentradio access networks has its own Packet Data Convergence Protocol(PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Media Access Control(MAC) layer. An anchor in a network performs data offloading based on anInternet Protocol (IP) data packet, that is, data offloading isperformed at an application layer above the PDCP layer. Then, a networkdevice of each standard separately processes, at the PDCP layer, the RLClayer, the MAC layer, and a physical layer, a data packet that isoffloaded to the standard. The anchor may also be referred to as acentral control node. The standard in this specification refers to theRAT.

However, in the existing multi-RAT coordination technology, a delay ofprocessing the data packet is quite long, and a delay requirement of aservice, especially some services that have a demanding delayrequirement, cannot be met.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of this disclosure provide a data sending method, a datareceiving method, and an apparatus, so as to reduce a data packetprocessing delay.

According to a first aspect, a data sending method is provided,including:

allocating, by a Media Access Control MAC entity of a first networknode, data packets to at least one hybrid automatic repeat request HARQunit corresponding to at least two cells, where the at least two cellsuse different radio access technologies RATs, the at least two cellsshare one HARQ unit or each of the at least two cells is correspondingto one HARQ unit, and the HARQ unit is a HARQ entity and/or a HARQprocess; and sending, by the first network node, the data packets to asecond network node by using the at least two cells.

Optionally, before the allocating, by a MAC entity of a first networknode, data packets to at least one HARQ unit corresponding to at leasttwo cells, the method further includes:

processing, by a Packet Data Convergence Protocol PDCP entity and/or aRadio Link Control RLC entity of the first network node, applicationlayer data packets to obtain the data packets.

Optionally, before the allocating, by a MAC entity of a first networknode, data packets to at least one HARQ unit corresponding to at leasttwo cells, the MAC entity of the first network node processesapplication layer data packets to obtain the data packets. In thisoptional embodiment, an IP data packet is directly processed at a MAClayer, and does not need to be separately processed at a PDCP layer andan RLC layer, so that processing is more concise, and a delay isshorter.

Optionally, the allocating, by a MAC entity of a first network node,data packets to at least one HARQ unit corresponding to at least twocells includes:

allocating, by the MAC entity, the data packets to the at least one HARQunit corresponding to the at least two cells according to at least oneof: a quality of service parameter of a service, radio channel statusesof the different RATs, an average packet loss rate of each of thedifferent RATs, average channel utilization of each of the differentRATs, or characteristics of the different RATs.

The MAC entity allocates the data packets according to characteristicsof the different RATs, so that a radio characteristic of a selected RATbetter matches a characteristic of a service that needs to be served. Inaddition, a QoS parameter of the service, such as a tolerant rate, adelay, or a priority, radio channel statuses corresponding to physicallayers of different standards, and the average packet loss rates and theaverage channel utilization of different RATs are considered during datapacket allocation, so as to ensure a better packet allocation proportionand a minimum receive end delay.

Optionally, before the allocating, by a MAC entity, data packets to atleast one HARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells, the methodfurther includes:

receiving, by the first network node, a first message, where the firstmessage includes at least one of the following information: radiochannel statuses that are reported by the second network node and thatare corresponding to the different RATs respectively, information abouta RAT selected by the second network node, information about a cellcorresponding to a RAT selected by the second network node, orinformation about a carrier corresponding to a RAT selected by thesecond network node;

wherein the allocating, by a MAC entity, data packets to at least oneHARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells includes:

allocating, by the MAC entity according to the information in the firstmessage, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unit corresponding tothe at least two cells.

Optionally, the method further includes:

receiving, by the first network node, an uplink rate control parametersent by the second network node, where the uplink rate control parameteris set according to characteristics and priorities of the RATscorresponding to the at least two cells;

wherein the allocating, by a MAC entity, data packets to at least oneHARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells includes:

allocating, by the MAC entity according to the uplink rate controlparameter, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unit correspondingto the at least two cells.

Optionally, before the allocating, by a MAC entity, data packets to atleast one HARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells, the methodfurther includes:

directly or indirectly sending, by the first network node, a bufferstatus report BSR to the second network node, where the BSR includesinformation about a RAT selected by the first network node orinformation about cells, carriers, logical channels, or logical channelgroups corresponding to the different RATs; and/or

directly or indirectly sending, by the first network node, a schedulingrequest SR to the second network node, where the SR includes informationabout the at least two RATs or information about cells, carriers,logical channels, or logical channel groups corresponding to the atleast two RATs.

Optionally, after the directly or indirectly sending, by the firstnetwork node, a buffer status report BSR to the second network node,and/or directly or indirectly sending, by the first network node, ascheduling request SR to the second network node, the method furtherincludes:

receiving, by the first network node, resource scheduling informationsent by the second network node, where the resource schedulinginformation includes resources that are of the at least two cells andthat are allocated by the second network node to the first network node;

wherein the allocating, by a MAC entity, data packets to at least oneHARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells includes:

allocating, by the MAC entity, the data packets to the at least one HARQunit corresponding to the at least two cells according to the resourcesthat are of the at least two cells and that are allocated by the secondnetwork node to the first network node.

Each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ unit, one ofthe first network node and the second network node is an access networkdevice, and the other one of the first network node and the secondnetwork node is a terminal device; and

before the allocating, the method further includes:

sending, by the access network device, a second message to the terminaldevice, where the second message includes configuration information ofHARQ round trip time RTT timing time of a cell corresponding to each ofthe different RATs, and/or configuration information of discontinuousreception DRX of a cell corresponding to each of the different RATs.

According to the foregoing configuration, in this embodiment of thisdisclosure, TTI values and/or cyclic prefixes (cyclic prefix, CP) ofdifferent RATs may be different, and therefore, HARQ timing of HARQentities and/or HARQ processes corresponding to cells of the differentRATs may be different. In this case, a HARQ operation may still beperformed.

Optionally, after the allocating, by a MAC entity, data packets to atleast one HARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells, the methodfurther includes: performing, by the MAC entity, mapping of differenttransport channels (transport channel) and logical channels (logicalchannel) of different RATs.

According to a second aspect, a data receiving method is provided,including:

receiving, by a second network node, data packets by using at least twocells, where the at least two cells use different radio accesstechnologies RATs; and

centrally processing, by the second network node at a MAC entity, thedata packets received from the at least two cells, and then transferringcentrally processed data packets to an upper-layer protocol stack of aMAC layer.

As a receive end of the data packets, the second network node receivesthe data packets by using antennas of different RATs, processes the datapackets by using a HARQ process and a baseband processing unit atcorresponding physical layers, and then sends processed data packets toa shared MAC layer to perform an operation such as demultiplexing. Adata packet obtained after demultiplexing is performed at the shared MAClayer is an aggregated data packet. The MAC layer sends the processeddata to an RLC layer and a PDCP layer for processing, and the data isfinally sent to an application layer.

According to a third aspect, a network device is provided. The networkdevice is a first network node, and includes:

a processor, configured to allocate, at a MAC layer, data packets to atleast one hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ unit corresponding to atleast two cells, where the at least two cells use different radio accesstechnologies RATs, the at least two cells share one HARQ unit or each ofthe at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ unit, and the HARQunit is a HARQ entity and/or a HARQ process; and

a transmitter, configured to send, to a second network node by using theat least two cells, the data packets allocated by the processor.

Optionally, before allocating, at the MAC layer, the data packets to theat least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells, theprocessor is further configured to:

process application layer data packets at a Packet Data ConvergenceProtocol PDCP layer and/or a Radio Link Control RLC layer to obtain thedata packets; or process application layer data packets at the MAC layerto obtain the data packets.

Optionally, the processor is specifically configured to allocate, at theMAC layer in the following manner, the data packets to the at least oneHARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells:

allocating, at the MAC layer, the data packets to the at least one HARQunit corresponding to the at least two cells according to at least oneof: a quality of service parameter of a service, radio channel statusesof the different RATs, an average packet loss rate of each of thedifferent RATs, average channel utilization of each of the differentRATs, or characteristics of the different RATs.

Optionally, the network device further includes a receiver, where

the receiver is configured to: before the processor allocates, at theMAC layer, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unit correspondingto the at least two cells, receive a first message, where the firstmessage includes at least one of the following information: radiochannel statuses that are reported by the second network node and thatare corresponding to the different RATs respectively, information abouta RAT selected by the second network node, information about a cellcorresponding to a RAT selected by the second network node, orinformation about a carrier corresponding to a RAT selected by thesecond network node; and

the processor is specifically configured to allocate, at the MAC layerin the following manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells: allocating, at the MAC layeraccording to the information in the first message, the data packets tothe at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells.

Optionally, the network device further includes a receiver, where

the receiver is configured to receive an uplink rate control parametersent by the second network node, where the uplink rate control parameteris set according to characteristics and priorities of the RATscorresponding to the at least two cells; and

the processor is specifically configured to allocate, at the MAC layerin the following manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells: allocating, at the MAC layeraccording to the uplink rate control parameter, the data packets to theat least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells.

Optionally, the transmitter is further configured to: before theprocessor allocates, at the MAC layer, the data packets to the at leastone HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells, directly orindirectly send a buffer status report BSR to the second network node,where the BSR includes information about a RAT selected by the firstnetwork node or information about cells, carriers, logical channels, orlogical channel groups corresponding to the different RATs; and/ordirectly or indirectly send a scheduling request SR to the secondnetwork node, where the SR includes information about the at least twoRATs or information about cells, carriers, logical channels, or logicalchannel groups corresponding to the at least two RATs.

Optionally, the network device further includes a receiver, where

the receiver is configured to receive resource scheduling informationsent by the second network node, where the resource schedulinginformation includes resources that are of the at least two cells andthat are allocated by the second network node to the first network node;and

the processor is specifically configured to allocate, at the MAC layerin the following manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells: allocating, at the MAC layer,the data packets to the at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the atleast two cells according to the resources that are of the at least twocells and that are allocated by the second network node to the firstnetwork node.

Optionally, each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQunit, one of the first network node and the second network node is anaccess network device, and the other one of the first network node andthe second network node is a terminal device; and

the transmitter is further configured to: before the processorallocates, at the MAC layer, the data packets to HARQ processes of atleast two RAT networks, send a second message to the terminal device,where the second message includes configuration information of HARQround trip time RTT timing time of a cell corresponding to each of thedifferent RATs, and/or configuration information of discontinuousreception DRX of a cell corresponding to each of the different RATs.

According to a fourth aspect, a network device is provided. The networkdevice is a second network node, and includes a receiver and aprocessor; where

the receiver is configured to receive data packets by using at least twocells, where the at least two cells use different radio accesstechnologies RATs; and

the processor is configured to: centrally process, at a MAC layer, thedata packets received from the at least two cells, and then transfercentrally processed data packets to an upper-layer protocol stack of theMAC layer.

Optionally, the data packets are different data packets of a sameservice; or

the data packets are same data packets of a same service; or

the data packets are data packets of different services.

Optionally, the data packets include a first data packet and a seconddata packet, the first data packet is allocated to a first cell in theat least two cells, the second data packet is allocated to a second cellin the at least two cells, and the first data packet and the second datapacket are different data packets of a same service, or the first datapacket and the second data packet are data packets of differentservices.

The at least two cells share one HARQ entity, the first data packet andthe second data packet are corresponding to different HARQ processesrespectively, and the different HARQ processes are maintained by theHARQ entity; or

each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ entity, thefirst cell is corresponding to a first HARQ entity, the second cell iscorresponding to a second HARQ entity, the first data packet iscorresponding to a first HARQ process, the first HARQ process ismaintained by the first HARQ entity, the second data packet iscorresponding to a second HARQ process, and the second HARQ process ismaintained by the second HARQ entity.

Optionally, the data packets include a first data packet and a seconddata packet, the first data packet and the second data packet are samedata packets of a same service, the first data packet is allocated to afirst cell in the at least two cells, and the second data packet isallocated to a second cell in the at least two cells.

The at least two cells share one HARQ entity, the first data packet andthe second data packet are corresponding to one HARQ process, and theHARQ process is maintained by the HARQ entity; or

each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ entity, thefirst cell is corresponding to a first HARQ entity, the second cell iscorresponding to a second HARQ entity, the first data packet iscorresponding to a first HARQ process, the first HARQ process ismaintained by the first HARQ entity, the second data packet iscorresponding to a second HARQ process, and the second HARQ process ismaintained by the second HARQ entity.

Optionally, a characteristic of a RAT includes at least one oftransmission time interval TTI, a transport format TF of a transportchannel, or a coding parameter. The coding parameter includes at leastone of a size of error correcting code, a coding type, or a coding rate.Characteristics of the different RATs include at least one of: atransmission time interval TTI of each of the different RATs, atransport format TF of a transport channel of each of the differentRATs, or a coding parameter of each of the different RATs. The codingparameter includes at least one of a size of error correcting code, acoding type, or a coding rate.

Optionally, configuration information of DRX includes a type of aphysical channel that needs to be listened on by a terminal deviceand/or information about HARQ RTT timing time of a cell corresponding tothe configuration information of DRX.

Optionally, the first network node in the embodiments of this disclosuremay be one of a terminal device, an access network device, or a corenetwork device.

The RAT described in the embodiments of this disclosure may include oneor more serving cells, and the serving cell in this specification isreferred to as a cell. A serving cell may be a carrier, or may be acell.

In the embodiments of this disclosure, the shared MAC layer is used forallocating the data packets to the at least one hybrid automatic repeatrequest HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells, so thatservice data of radio networks of different standards may be allocatedat the MAC layer, and corresponding data packets allocated to cells ofdifferent RATs do not have long delays at the PDCP layer and the RLClayer, thereby effectively reducing an end-to-end delay. Because a datapacket processing delay is reduced, an average residence serving timeand a waiting time in a buffer are accordingly reduced. In this way,data packets of different RATs have only HARQ processing delays.Therefore, the delays are low and may be ignored. In terms of an effect,this is equivalent to a fact that frequency bands of different standardsare used for processing the data packets, so as to achieve a carrieraggregation (CA) effect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a multi-radionetwork standard coordination technology;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a multi-radionetwork standard coordination technology according to an embodiment ofthis disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a data sending method and a data receivingmethod according to an embodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a protocol stack accordingto an embodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 5 is another schematic flowchart of a data sending and receivingmethod according to an embodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a protocol stack accordingto another embodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device accordingto an embodiment of this disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another network deviceaccording to an embodiment of this disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following describes the technical solutions in the embodiments ofthis disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings in theembodiments of this disclosure. It should be noted that the embodimentsof this disclosure and characteristics of the embodiments may becombined with each other in a case without a conflict.

For example, multi-RAT coordination is performed by using UMTS and LTE.Protocol stacks of network devices of both existing standards (UMTS andLTE) are complete and independent. For example, an anchor performsoffloading based on an Internet Protocol (IP) data packet. The anchor isconfigured to perform joint radio resource management on radio resourcesof at least two standards. The anchor may be an independent networkelement, or may be used as a logic function node and disposed inside anetwork element such as a base station or an RNC. In such a joint radioresource management mode, a network device of each standard (RAT) stillneeds to successively process data at all protocol layers of the networkdevice, including a PDCP layer, an RLC, and a MAC layer.

As shown in FIG. 1, it can be learned that in the network architecture,a mobility management entity (MME) or a serving gateway (S-GW) in an LTEnetwork sends data packets 1, 2, and 3 to a central control node. Aserving GPRS support node (SGSN, where GPRS is a general packet radiosystem) in a UMTS network sends data packets 4, 5, 6, and 7 to thecentral control node. In FIG. 1, the central control node may beintegrated into an evolved Node B (eNB) in the LTE network. The centralcontrol node offloads the data packets 1, 2, 5, and 7 to the eNB of theLTE network, and offloads the data packets 3 and 4 to a radio networkcontroller (RNC) and/or a node B (NodeB, NB) in the UMTS network.Description is given by using the NB as an example. The eNB and the NBseparately process the data packets offloaded to the eNB and the NB atthe PDCP layer, the RLC layer, and the MAC layer.

In this specification, a manner in which the data packet needs to beprocessed at each protocol layer is referred to as loose coupling.Processing delays at these upper layer (including the PDCP layer, theRLC layer, and the MAC layer) protocol stacks can be up to hundreds ofmilliseconds (ms). However, during joint processing, delays of differentnetwork devices need to be taken into consideration in data aggregation.Therefore, in the current multi-RAT coordination technology, aprocessing delay is still quite long. Such a long delay cannot meet adelay requirement of a rapidly developing communication service,especially a low delay and high reliability requirement of convergenceof the LTE network and a next-generation 5G network.

Therefore, an embodiment of this disclosure provides a new technologythat can implement tight coupling coordination among multi-standardradio networks, so as to ensure smooth convergence of different networkdeployment. In this embodiment of this disclosure, radio access networksof different standards share the PDCP layer (or referred to as a PDCPentity), the RLC layer (or referred to as an RLC entity), and the MAClayer (or referred to as a MAC entity). Optionally, the radio accessnetworks of different standards may share the MAC layer, and functionsof the PDCP layer and the RLC layer are implemented by the MAC layer. Inthis embodiment of this disclosure, data packets of the radio networksof different standards can be offloaded at the MAC layer. Afteroffloading, a network device of each standard needs to process the datapacket only at a HARQ entity and a physical layer, or a network deviceof each standard needs to process the data packet only at a physicallayer, and does not need to successively process the data packet at thePDCP layer, the RLC layer, and the MAC layer, so as to map the datapacket onto the radio networks of different standards at the MAC layer.

In the prior art, a network device of each RAT still needs tosuccessively process a data packet at a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and aMAC layer of the network device. By comparison, in this embodiment ofthis disclosure, processing is centrally performed at a PDCP layer, anRLC layer, and a MAC layer of each RAT, and the MAC layer allocates datapackets to a HARQ process and/or a HARQ entity maintained for at leasttwo RAT cells. Such a manner is referred to as tight coupling in thisspecification. A HARQ processing delay at the MAC layer is only a fewmilliseconds (ms), processing is centrally performed at the PDCP layer,the RLC layer, and the MAC layer of different standards in thisembodiment of this disclosure, the data packets may be allocatedaccording to a radio link status reported by the physical layer, and thedata packets of different standards do not have long delays at the PDCPlayer and the RLC layer. Therefore, this effectively reduces anend-to-end delay. Because a data packet processing delay is reduced, anaverage residence serving time and a waiting time in a buffer areaccordingly reduced. In this way, data packets of different RATs haveonly HARQ processing delays. Therefore, the delays are low and may beignored. In terms of an effect, this is equivalent to a fact thatfrequency bands of different standards are used for processing the datapackets, so as to achieve a carrier aggregation (CA) effect.

It should be noted that a system in this embodiment of this disclosureincludes network elements of at least two RAT networks, and furtherincludes one central control node. The central control node obtains aMAC data packet after separately processing an IP data packet (anapplication layer data packet) at a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAClayer, and offloads the MAC data packet to each RAT network. The centralcontrol node may be alternatively referred to as an anchor or the like,may be an independent network element, or may be integrated into anetwork element of a RAT network.

It can be learned that a structure of a protocol stack of the networkarchitecture in this embodiment of this disclosure is different fromthat of a protocol stack of a network architecture in the prior art. Acentral control node in the prior art offloads the data packets at thePDCP layer, but the central control node in this embodiment of thisdisclosure offloads the data packets at the MAC layer. Therefore, thestructure of the protocol stack of the central control node in thisembodiment of this disclosure is different from that in the prior art.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, UMTS and LTE are still used asexamples. It can be learned that in the network architecture, an MME oran S-GW in an LTE network sends data packets 1, 2, and 3 to a centralcontrol node, and an SGSN in a UMTS network sends data packets 4, 5, 6,and 7 to the central control node. In FIG. 2, the central control nodemay be integrated into an eNB in the LTE network, or may be integratedinto another network element. The central control node successivelyprocesses received data packets at a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAClayer. A MAC entity schedules the data packets 1, 2, 5, and 7 to the eNBof the LTE network, and schedules the data packets 3 and 4 to an RNCand/or an NB of the UMTS network. Description is given by using the NBas an example, and the eNB and the NB process, at a physical layer, thedata packets offloaded to the eNB and the NB.

Further, the network elements of the at least two RAT networks in thisembodiment of this disclosure may be integrated into one device. In thiscase, although in one device, the network elements are actuallyimplemented by using different RATs. For example, alternatively, the eNBand the NB shown in FIG. 2 may be integrated into a same device, andimplemented by the same device.

In the foregoing, description is given by using a downlink service as anexample. According to improvement in this embodiment of this disclosure,a multi-RAT coordination technology may also be applied to an uplinkservice. For the uplink service, the central control node may be, forexample, a terminal device. After the terminal device performsprocessing at the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, and the MAC layer, a MACentity of the terminal device allocates the data packets 1, 2, 5, and 7to the eNB of the LTE network, and allocates the data packets 3 and 4 tothe UMTS network. Specifically, the terminal device may separatelyrequest corresponding uplink resources from the eNB and the NB accordingto a data packet allocation status, and sends the data packets to theeNB and the NB by using the obtained uplink resources. The eNB and theNB send respective data packets to a network element that has a functionof the central control node. The network element aggregates the datapackets sent by the eNB and the NB. The network element that has thefunction of the central control node may be one of the eNB and the NB oranother network element in the network.

The terminal device in this embodiment of this disclosure may refer to adevice that provides a user with voice and/or data connectivity, ahandheld device that has a wireless connection function, or anotherprocessing device connected to a wireless modem. A wireless terminal maycommunicate with one or more core networks through a radio accessnetwork (for example, RAN, Radio Access Network). The wireless terminalmay be a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone (or may be referred toas a “cellular” phone), or a computer with a mobile terminal, forexample, a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer built-in, orin-vehicle mobile apparatus, that exchanges voice and/or data with theradio access network. For example, it may be a device such as a personalcommunication service (PCS) phone, a cordless telephone set, a SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, ora personal digital assistant (PDA). The wireless terminal may also bereferred to as a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, amobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, an access point, aremote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, auser device, or user equipment.

It should be noted that the RAT in this embodiment of this disclosuremay also be referred to as a standard. For example, different RATs mayalternatively be referred to as different standards. The two definitionsare not distinguished in this embodiment of this disclosure. Inaddition, the MAC layer in this embodiment of this disclosure mayalternatively be referred to as a MAC entity, and the two definitionsare not distinguished in this embodiment of this disclosure either.

Further, the network architecture in this embodiment of this disclosuremay also be applied to coordination between at least two networks ofUMTS, GSM, CDMA, WLAN, WiFi, LTE, and a next generation network (forexample, 5G), and/or coordination among different RATs of 5G. DifferentRATs of the next generation network may have different waveforms, framestructures, coding technologies (such as Turbo code, low-densityparity-check (LDPC) code, or polar code), and demodulation technologies,and use other new technologies, for example, one or more of a newbeamforming technology (such as filtered OFDM), a new multi-accesstechnology (such as sparse code multiple access (sparse code multipleaccess, SCMA)), and a new channel coding technology.

The central control node in this embodiment of this disclosure may beintegrated into a plurality of types of network devices, such as aterminal device or an access network device, or the central control nodemay be another device that sends data to the terminal device, or a corenetwork device, or the like.

In this embodiment of this disclosure, the access network device may bea base station, such as an evolved node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in LTE orLTE-A, or a NodeB or an RNC in UMTS, or may be a base station in anothercommunications system, such as a base transceiver station (BTS) or abase station controller (BSC), or may be another device that sends datato the terminal device, such as a small cell, a relay node, atransmission point (TP), or an access point (AP). This is not limited inthis embodiment of this disclosure.

The core network device may be a core network device in any RAT, forexample, an MME, an S-GW, or a serving GPRS support node (SGSN) of 2G or3G.

In this embodiment of this disclosure, a network element that has thefunction of the central control node is referred to as a first networknode, that is, a network element that implements an offloading functionis referred to as the first network node. The network device may be anindependent network element, or may be integrated into an existingnetwork element. The existing network element may be any one of theforegoing network devices. Alternatively, the existing network elementmay be another network device that can implement the same function inthe future. A data receive end is referred to as a second network node,that is, a network element that aggregates data received from RATs isreferred to as the second network node.

In this embodiment, for the uplink service, the first network node maybe a terminal device, and the second network node may be a networkelement in an access network, or may be a network element of a corenetwork of a RAT, or may be an independent network element in a network.The second network node has a data aggregation function. The terminaldevice is a network device that has a shared MAC entity. The terminaldevice processes data packets at the MAC layer, and then offloads thedata packets to different RAT cells, and network devices of thedifferent RAT cells process the data packets at the physical layer.

For the downlink service, the first network node may be a network devicethat has a shared MAC entity, and the second network node may be anetwork element in an access network, or may be a network element of acore network of a RAT, or may be an independent network element in anetwork. The first network node processes downlink data packets at theMAC layer, and then offloads the data packets to RAT cells, and networkdevices of different RAT cells process the data packets at the physicallayer, and then sends the data packets to a terminal device.

In addition, the method in this embodiment of this disclosure mayfurther be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication,machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)communication, or a plurality of other similar communication manners. Inthese communication manners, the first network node and the secondnetwork node are two nodes that participate in the D2D, M2M, or V2Vcommunication, or other communication. The first network node has ashared MAC entity. The first network node allocates the data packets todifferent standards at the MAC layer, and sends the data packets to thesecond network node by using the different standards.

Sharing means that MAC layers of the data packets offloaded to all RATsare processed by the MAC entity, and a network entity of each RAT doesnot need to perform processing at the MAC layer.

To achieve the effect described above, the embodiments of thisdisclosure provide a plurality of embodiments. In the following, thesolutions in the embodiments of this disclosure are described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a data sending method and a data receivingmethod according to an embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in FIG.3, the method includes the following steps.

Step 310: A Media Access Control MAC entity of a first network nodeallocates data packets to at least one HARQ unit corresponding to atleast two cells, where the at least two cells use different RATs, the atleast two cells are corresponding to one HARQ unit or each of the atleast two cells is corresponding to one HARQ unit, and the HARQ unit isa HARQ entity and/or a HARQ process.

Step 320: The first network node sends the data packets to a secondnetwork node by using the at least two cells.

Step 330: The second network node receives the data packets by using theat least two cells.

Step 340: The second network node centrally processes, at a MAC layer,the data packets received from the at least two cells, and thentransfers centrally processed data packets to an upper-layer protocolstack of the MAC layer for processing.

It should be noted that although at least two cells are included in thisembodiment of this disclosure, and the at least two cells use differentRATs, another cell may further be included in this embodiment of thisdisclosure, and a RAT used by the another cell may be the same as one ofthe RATs used by the at least two cells. For cells of the same RAT,processing may be performed according to any one of the at least twocells in this embodiment of this disclosure. The RAT described in thisembodiment of this disclosure may include one or more serving cells, andthe serving cell in this specification is referred to as a cell. Aserving cell may be a carrier, or may be a cell.

The at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells inthis embodiment of this disclosure may be at least one HARQ unitmaintained by the first network node for the at least two cells. Thatthe at least two cells are corresponding to one HARQ unit may be thatthe at least two cells share one HARQ unit, that is, the HARQ unit isshared by the at least two cells. Alternatively, each of the at leasttwo cells is corresponding to one HARQ unit, that is, the cell and theHARQ unit are in a one-to-one correspondence.

Further, the data packets in this embodiment of this disclosure may bedifferent data packets of a same service, or may be same data packets ofa same service, or may be data packets of different services. For thedifferent data packets of the same service and the data packets of thedifferent services, the solutions in this embodiment of this disclosurecan improve data packet transmission efficiency, and increase a speed ofsending the data packets to a receive end. For the same data packets ofthe same service, the solutions in this embodiment of this disclosurecan improve transmission reliability of the data packets.

Further, as described above, the HARQ unit in this embodiment of thisdisclosure may be a HARQ entity, or may a HARQ process, or may be a HARQentity and a HARQ process. The MAC entity maintains at least one HARQunit, and when the MAC entity maintains one HARQ unit, the at least twocells share the HARQ unit. When the MAC entity maintains at least twoHARQ units, each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQunit.

For example, in an embodiment, the data packets are the different datapackets of the same service, or are the data packets of the differentservices, and the data packets include a first data packet and a seconddata packet. The MAC entity of the first network node allocates thefirst data packet to a first cell in the at least two cells, andallocates the second data packet to a second cell in the at least twocells. In this case, when the at least two cells share one HARQ entity,the first data packet and the second data packet are corresponding todifferent HARQ processes respectively, and the different HARQ processesare maintained by the HARQ entity. When each of the at least two cellsis corresponding to one HARQ entity, the first cell is corresponding toa first HARQ entity, the second cell is corresponding to a second HARQentity, the first data packet is corresponding to a first HARQ process,the first HARQ process is maintained by the first HARQ entity, thesecond data packet is corresponding to a second HARQ process, and thesecond HARQ process is maintained by the second HARQ entity.

For another example, in another embodiment, the data packets are thesame data packets of the same service, the data packets include a firstdata packet and a second data packet, and the first data packet and thesecond data packet are the same data packets of the same service, thatis, the first data packet and the second data packet are the same datapackets. The first data packet is allocated to a first cell in the atleast two cells, and the second data packet is allocated to a secondcell in the at least two cells. When the at least two cells share oneHARQ entity, the first data packet and the second data packet arecorresponding to one HARQ process, and the HARQ process is maintained bythe HARQ entity. In this case, it may also be considered that the atleast two cells may share one HARQ process. Alternatively, when each ofthe at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ entity, the firstcell is corresponding to a first HARQ entity, the second cell iscorresponding to a second HARQ entity, the first data packet iscorresponding to a first HARQ process, the first HARQ process ismaintained by the first HARQ entity, the second data packet iscorresponding to a second HARQ process, and the second HARQ process ismaintained by the second HARQ entity.

When the at least two cells share one HARQ entity, regardless of whethernetwork devices that control the at least two cells are independentnetwork elements or are integrated into the first network node, the HARQentity is disposed on the first network node, and the first network nodeperforms HARQ control, including data packet retransmission or the like.

When each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQ entity,if network devices that control the at least two cells are independentnetwork elements, the HARQ entity corresponding to each of the at leasttwo cells may be disposed on the first network node, and the firstnetwork node performs HARQ control, including data packet retransmissionor the like. Alternatively, the HARQ entity corresponding to each of theat least two cells may be disposed on a corresponding network device ofeach of the at least two cells, and the network device performscorresponding HARQ control on a data packet allocated to a cellcontrolled by the network device.

For example, if the first network node is an eNB in an LTE network, thedifferent RATs corresponding to the two cells include LTE and UMTS, anda UMTS network element is an NB, the eNB allocates the data packets tothe eNB of LTE and the NB of UMTS. For the first case, that is, the atleast two cells share one HARQ entity, the HARQ entity is disposed onthe eNB, and the eNB performs central HARQ control. For the second case,HARQ entities corresponding to cells of LTE and UMTS are disposed on theeNB and the NB respectively, the eNB performs HARQ control on a datapacket allocated to LTE, and the NB performs HARQ control on a datapacket allocated to UMTS. Alternatively, both HARQ entitiescorresponding to cells of LTE and UMTS are disposed on the eNB, and theeNB performs HARQ control on data packets allocated to LTE and UMTS.

Further, another cell may further be included in this embodiment of thisdisclosure, and the another cell may share one HARQ unit with the atleast two cells. That is, in cells included in this embodiment of thisdisclosure, some cells may share one HARQ unit, and the other cells arecorresponding to different HARQ units. Certainly, the another cell maybe corresponding to one HARQ unit, that is, in cells included in thisembodiment of this disclosure, each cell may be corresponding to oneHARQ unit.

Therefore, that the MAC entity of the first network node allocates thedata packets to the at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at leasttwo cells may include: The MAC entity allocates the data packets to theHARQ entity shared by the at least two cells, or the MAC entityallocates the data packets to different HARQ entities respectivelycorresponding to the at least two cells, or the MAC entity allocates thedata packets to different HARQ processes of the HARQ entity shared bythe at least two cells or to different HARQ processes of different HARQentities, or the MAC entity allocates the data packets to a same HARQprocess of the HARQ entity shared by the at least two cells.

In an optional embodiment, before step 310, this embodiment of thisdisclosure may further include: A PDCP entity and/or an RLC entityperform/performs corresponding PDCP layer and/or RLC layer processing onapplication layer data packets, and may perform MAC layer processing toobtain the data packets. That is, in addition to the shared MAC entity,the first network node may include a shared PDCP entity and/or a sharedRLC entity. In this embodiment of this disclosure, it is possible thatonly the PDCP entity and the MAC entity are shared entities, and afunction of the RLC entity may be implemented by the MAC entity or thePDCP entity; or in this embodiment of this disclosure, it is possiblethat only the RLC entity and the MAC entity are shared entities, and afunction of the PDCP entity may be implemented by the RLC entity; or inthis embodiment of this disclosure, it is possible that all of the PDCPentity, the RLC entity, and the MAC entity are shared entities, and afunction of each layer is implemented by a corresponding entity. In thisembodiment, the data packets may be offloaded at the MAC layer, and theshared PDCP entity, RLC entity, and MAC entity centrally process datapackets offloaded to different RATs, so as to reduce processing delaysof the PDCP entity, the RLC entity, and the MAC entity in the differentRATs.

In another optional embodiment, before step 310, this embodiment of thisdisclosure may further include: The MAC entity may directly processapplication layer data packets, that is, the MAC entity implementsfunctions of both the PDCP entity and the RLC entity. This embodiment ofthis disclosure can achieve the effect of the foregoing embodiment. Inaddition, based on the foregoing embodiment, in this embodiment of thisdisclosure, processing does not need to be separately performed at thePDCP layer and the RLC layer, so that processing is more concise, and adelay is shorter.

In the following, a specific example is used for further describing animplementation in which the at least two cells share the PDCP entity,the RLC entity, and the MAC entity, and an implementation in which theat least two cells share the MAC entity, and do not need the PDCP layerand the RLC layer. It should be noted that content in the following isonly further description of the description in the foregoing embodiment,and all characteristics in the content may be applied to the foregoingembodiment, and be combined with the foregoing embodiment.

For the first optional embodiment, the shared PDCP layer, RLC layer, andMAC layer of the first network node perform central processing onservice data of different-standard radio networks, and the MAC layer ofthe first network node maps the service data onto cells of thedifferent-standard radio networks. Therefore, the MAC layer may bereferred to as the shared MAC layer. The following describes thisembodiment in detail with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

A RAT-1, a RAT-2-a, a RAT-2-b, and a RAT-3 in FIG. 4 may be at least twotypes of RATs of UMTS, GSM, CDMA, WLAN, WiFi, LTE, a next generationnetwork (for example, 5G), different radio access technologies (RAT) ofa next generation network, or the like. For example, the RAT-3 is WiFi.

In this embodiment, radio access networks of different standards share aPDCP entity, an RLC entity, and a MAC entity. If a data packet isoffloaded to WiFi, a PDCP layer and an RLC layer may be transparent toWiFi, that is, PDCP layer processing and RLC layer processing are notperformed. A first network node that has an offloading functioncentrally processes to-be-sent IP data packets (that is, applicationlayer data packets) at the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, and a MAC layer. Ascheduling functional entity (such as a scheduler in FIG. 4) at the MAClayer offloads the data packets to cells of different RATs, and theoffloaded data packets are separately sent to a terminal device by usingthe cells of the different RATs, or data offloaded to the cells of thedifferent RATs is sent to network devices corresponding to differentcells. Each network device performs physical layer processing, forexample, performs HARQ process processing, and then the network devicesof the different RATs send, to UE, data packets on which physical layerprocessing is performed by the network devices.

Offloading may be performed on a service basis, that is, differentservices are scheduled to HARQ processes corresponding to differentRATs. Alternatively, offloading is performed on a data packet basis,that is, different data packets of a service are scheduled to HARQprocesses corresponding to different RATs. Certainly, offloading mayalso be performed on a service and a data packet basis. For details,refer to the manner described above.

Further, to improve data sending reliability, the MAC layer may allocatesome or all of data packets of a same service to the HARQ processescorresponding to the cells of the different RATs, or allocate some orall of same data packets to the HARQ processes corresponding to thecells of the different RATs. For details, refer to the description inthe foregoing.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a data sending and receiving methodaccording to an embodiment of this disclosure. The method includes thefollowing steps.

Step 510: A PDCP entity, an RLC entity, and a MAC entity of a firstnetwork node centrally process data packets, and the MAC entityallocates the data packets to at least one HARQ process and/or HARQentity corresponding to at least two cells, where the at least two cellsuse different RATs.

Step 520: The first network node sends, to network devices that controlthe at least two cells, the data packets allocated to the at least twocells.

It should be noted that step 520 is an optional step. A network deviceof a RAT network mentioned in each embodiment of this disclosure may bean independent network element, or may be a functional entity. Forexample, the network device is integrated into one network element witha network device of another RAT network, or is integrated into onenetwork element with the first network node. In this case, the firstnetwork node does not need to send, to the network devices that controlthe at least two cells, the data packets allocated to the at least twocells, but directly sends the data packets to a second network node byusing the at least two cells. In this way, step 530 and step 540 do notneed to be performed either.

Step 530: The network devices of the at least two cells receivecorresponding data packets, and perform HARQ process processing on thecorresponding data packets.

Step 540: The network devices of the at least two RAT networks sendprocessed data packets to a second network node.

All or some of the network devices of the at least two cells may beintegrated into the first network node.

In step 510, the data packets may be allocated by a data schedulingentity (or referred to as a scheduler) of the MAC entity.

In addition, this embodiment of this disclosure may be applied todevice-to-device (D2D) communication. In this case, the first networknode may also be a terminal device of the D2D communication. Theterminal device sends the data packets to another terminal device byusing different standards. In this case, the step in which the firstnetwork node sends, to network devices of corresponding RAT networks,the data packets allocated to the at least two cells does not exist.Instead, the first network node sends, to the second network node, thedata packets allocated to the at least two cells.

For ease of description, in the following embodiment, for a downlinkservice, the first network node is described by using an eNB as anexample, and the second network node is a terminal device. For an uplinkservice, the first network node is a terminal device, and the secondnetwork node is an eNB.

Further, as described above, the data packets may be different datapackets of a same service, same data packets of a same service, or datapackets of different services. A system includes two types of RATs: anLTE network and a UMTS network. The first network node is integratedinto the eNB.

For example, there are two different services: a service A and a serviceB. The eNB may schedule a data packet that is sent by a core networkdevice and that is of the service A to the LTE network, and schedule adata packet that is sent by the core network device and that is of theservice B to the UMTS network. The eNB sends the data packet of theservice A to the terminal device, and an NB sends the data packet of theservice B to the terminal device.

For another example, there is a service, and the service has a pluralityof to-be-sent data packets: a data packet A, a data packet B, a datapacket C, and a data packet D. The eNB may schedule the data packet Aand the data packet B to the LTE network, and schedule the data packet Cand the data packet D to the UMTS network. The eNB sends the data packetof the service A to the terminal device, and an NB sends the data packetof the service B to the terminal device.

Certainly, the foregoing two different solutions may also be combined.For example, there are three different services: a service A, a serviceB, and a service C. The eNB may schedule a data packet of the service Ato the LTE network, schedule a data packet of the service B to the UMTSnetwork, schedule a data packet A and a data packet B of the service Cto the LTE network, and schedule a data packet C and a data packet D ofthe service C to the UMTS network.

In addition, the eNB may schedule a same data packet to the LTE networkand the UMTS network. In this case, because the same data packet is sentby using different networks, the data packet is sent twice. Therefore,transmission reliability of the data packet is improved.

After receiving application layer data packets, the PDCP entity, the RLCentity, and the MAC entity may process the data packets. Processing ofeach entity includes corresponding processing in the prior art. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 4, for the PDCP entity, robust headercompression (ROHC) processing and/or security-related processing at thePDCP layer are/is included; for the RLC entity, segmentation and/orcascading processing, automatic repeat request (ARQ) processing, and thelike at the RLC layer are included; and for the MAC entity, priorityprocessing, queue scheduling, error correction, and the like at the MAClayer are included. Unlike the prior art, the processing is centralprocessing on data packets before offloading, instead of respectiveprocessing by different RATs.

Step 510 may further include the following steps.

Step S101: The MAC entity performs allocation determining for servicesand/or the data packets.

Step S102: The MAC entity allocates the services and/or the data packetsto a transmit buffer corresponding to at least one HARQ process and/orat least one HARQ entity corresponding to cells of different RATs.

When performing allocation determining, the MAC entity may performallocation determining according to a quality of service (QoS) parameterof a service. The QoS parameter may include one or more of a tolerantrate, a delay, a priority, or another parameter. These parameters may beconfigured by a radio resource control (RRC) layer to the MAC layer.

Alternatively, when performing allocation determining, the MAC entitymay perform allocation determining according to radio channel statusescorresponding to physical layers of different RATs.

Therefore, before step 310 or step 510 in the foregoing embodiment, themethod further includes: The first network node receives a firstmessage, where the first message includes at least one of the followinginformation: radio channel statuses that are reported by the secondnetwork node and that are corresponding to the different RATsrespectively, information about a RAT selected by the second networknode, information about a cell corresponding to a RAT selected by thesecond network node, or information about a carrier corresponding to aRAT selected by the second network node.

In step 310 or step 510, that the MAC entity allocates the data packetsto at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cellsincludes:

The MAC entity allocates, according to the information in the firstmessage, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unit corresponding tothe at least two cells.

The first message may be directly sent by the second network node to thefirst network node, or may be indirectly sent by the second network nodeto the first network node. For example, the second network node sendsthe first message to a network device corresponding to each cell, andthe network device corresponding to each cell sends the first message tothe first network node.

Specifically, for a downlink service:

The terminal device performs channel measurement, and reports channelmeasurement results of all cells to the first network node; or theterminal device separately reports channel measurement results to thenetwork devices of the different RATs, and the network devices of thedifferent RATs send the channel measurement results of all cells to thefirst network node.

The channel measurement result may include at least one of a rankindication (RI), a precoding matrix indication (PMI), a signal tointerference plus noise ratio (SINR), or the like. In this way, the MACentity may allocate, according to the channel measurement resultscorresponding to the at least two cells respectively, the data packetsto the at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells.

When the MAC entity allocates the data packets, channel statuses ofdifferent RATs are considered. Therefore, the MAC entity can allocatemore data packets to a RAT with a better channel status, or allocate aservice with a higher reliability requirement to a RAT with a betterchannel status, so as to effectively perform RAT selection, and improvedata transmission reliability.

Specifically, the terminal device may separately send the channelmeasurement results of the different RATs to a sending device or thenetwork devices corresponding to the different RATs, or may send thechannel measurement results to the first network node by using a publicmessage. Optionally, the message for sending the channel measurementresults may be physical layer signaling, or may be a MAC control element(MAC CE).

Optionally, the terminal device may further report, to the sendingdevice by using the physical layer signaling or the MAC CE, at least onetype of RAT selected by the terminal device. Further, the terminaldevice may further send, to the sending device, a corresponding datapacket allocation proportion of the RAT selected by the terminal device.The data packet allocation proportion may be independently sent, or maybe carried in the physical layer singling or the MAC CE, and sent to thefirst network node together with the at least one type of RAT selectedby the terminal device.

For an Uplink Service:

The terminal device selects the at least two cells according to themeasured channel measurement results of the different cells.

Optionally, when the terminal device sends a buffer status report (BSR),the BSR further carries information about a RAT or information about acell, a carrier, a logic channel, or a logical channel groupcorresponding to a RAT.

Optionally, when the terminal device sends a scheduling request (SR),the SR further carries information about a RAT or information about acell or a carrier corresponding to a RAT.

Optionally, when the second network node configures or modifies anuplink rate control parameter of the terminal device, such as a priorityand a prioritized bit rate (PBR) of a radio bearer (RB), acharacteristic and a priority of the RAT are considered. That is, thesecond network node sets the uplink rate control parameter of theterminal device according to the characteristic and the priority of theRAT.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment, a radio resource control (RRC)layer and/or radio resource management (RRM) send/sends, to the MACentity, an average packet loss rate of each cell of different RATsand/or average channel utilization of each cell of different RATs.Therefore, in the foregoing embodiment, when allocating the datapackets, the MAC entity may perform allocation determining according tothe average packet loss rate of each cell of the different RATs and/orthe average channel utilization of each of the different RATs.

Certainly, the MAC entity may allocate the data packets according to oneor any combination of the foregoing parameters.

In this embodiment, the QoS parameter of the service, such as thetolerant rate, the delay, or the priority, the radio channel statusescorresponding to the physical layers of the different standards, and theaverage packet loss rate and the average channel utilization of thedifferent RATs are considered in data packet allocation, so as to ensurea better packet allocation proportion and a minimum receive end delay.

Further, when allocating the data packets, the MAC entity may furtherselect a RAT according to characteristics of different RATs, so as toselect an optimum RAT. The characteristics of the RATs may include atleast one of a transmission time interval (TTI), a transport format (TF)of a transport channel, or a coding parameter. The coding parameter mayinclude at least one of a size of error correcting code, a coding type,or a coding rate. In this way, the MAC entity allocates the data packetsaccording to the characteristics of the different RATs, so that a radiocharacteristic of the selected RAT better matches a characteristic of aservice that needs to be served. For example, characteristics of thecoding rate, the transport format of the transport channel, and the TTIare related to a service rate and a network processing delay; and thesize of the error correcting code and the coding type are related to abit error rate that a service can tolerate. Therefore, when allocationdetermining is performed, considering the characteristics of the codingrate, the transport format of the transport channel, and the TTI, theservice rate, and the like can reduce a network processing delay. Inaddition, when allocation determining is performed, considering the sizeof the error correcting code, the coding type, the bit error rate thatthe service can tolerate, and the like can reduce a bit error rate.

Further, after the MAC entity allocates the data packets to the HARQentity and/or the HARQ process corresponding to the at least two cells,the MAC entity may map different transport channels and logical channels(logical channel) of the different RATs according to allocation results.

Optionally, all the different RATs may reuse a transport channel andlogical channel mapping manner currently defined by LTE. Particularly, a5G network may perform transport channel and logical channel mappingaccording to a current LTE network manner.

Further, the MAC entity of the first network node further performs acorresponding MAC operation, including a HARQ operation. In addition,the MAC operation may further include a discontinuous reception (DRX)operation and/or a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) operation.

For the HARQ operation, the MAC entity of the first network nodemaintains at least one HARQ entity for each serving cell, and each HARQentity may keep a plurality of HARQ processes. A serving cell may be acarrier, or may be a cell. One type of RAT may include one or moreserving cells.

In this embodiment of this disclosure, the HARQ entity maintained by theMAC entity of the first network node is corresponding to at least twoRATs, and TTI values and/or cyclic prefixes (CP) of different RATs maybe different. Therefore, HARQ timing of HARQ entities and/or HARQprocesses corresponding to cells of the different RATs may be different.Specifically, timing of the HARQ entities corresponding to the cells ofthe different RATs may be different, but timing of all HARQ processes ineach HARQ entity is the same; or timing of all HARQ processes of theHARQ entities corresponding to the cells of the different RATs may bedifferent. Therefore, in this embodiment of this disclosure, toimplement HARQ operations of different HARQ timing, different HARQ roundtrip time (RTT) timing times need to be configured for serving cells ofthe different RATs. Therefore, in this embodiment of this disclosure, anaccess network device may further send, to the terminal device, a HARQRTT timing time corresponding to each of the cells of the different RAT.

Further, the access network device may configure different HARQ RTTtiming times or a HARQ RTT timing time list for the cells of thedifferent RATs by assigning a value to a variable HARQ RTT Timer.Specifically, the value may be assigned to the HARQ RTT Timer by using aMAC-MainConfigSCell-rxy information element in an RRC reconfigurationmessage, and this may be implemented in the following manner:

MAC-MainConfigSCell-rxy ::= SEQUENCE { stag-Id-r11 STAG-Id-r11 OPTIONAL,HARQInformation (or just an index from a specified table, or a pattern)HARQ RTT timer or HARQ RTT timerList ... }

In this embodiment, the value of the HARQ RTT Timer may use a definitionof HARQ information in a corresponding RAT.

In the prior art, the MAC entity does not maintain the HARQ entities ofthe different RATs. Therefore, the HARQ timing of all HARQ entities isthe same. In addition, in the prior art, the value of the HARQ RTT Timeris constant, where there are eight subframes in FDD, and k+4 subframesin TDD. Therefore, RRC signaling in the prior art does not carry theHARQ RTT timing time or the HARQ RTT timing time list.

For a DRX operation, the terminal device may use different radiofrequency units to receive data packets of different RATs. In this case,the terminal device may use different DRX configurations for differentRATs. Therefore, in this embodiment of this disclosure, the accessnetwork device may further send different DRX configurations to theterminal device. The terminal device performs DRX according to the DRXconfigurations.

The DRX configurations may include a DRX configuration in the prior art,for example:

(1) at least one of an on duration timer (onDurationTimer), a DRXinactivity timer (drx-InactivityTimer), a DRX retransmission timer(drx-RetransmissionTimer), or a mac-contention resolution timer(mac-ContentionResolutionTimer), where during running of the four typesof timers, a receive antenna is enabled to monitor a PDCCH.

(2) a DRX cycle and a start offset.

Unlike those in the prior art, the DRX configurations in this embodimentof this disclosure are for different RATs.

Optionally, the DRX configurations may indicate a type of a physicalchannel that needs to be listened on by the terminal device, forexample, PDCCH for LTE, PxCCH for 4.5G, or PyCCH for 5G.

In the prior art, if a DRX function is configured for the terminaldevice, the terminal device uses a DRX operation specification, anddiscontinuously listens on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).If a DRX function is not configured for the terminal device, theterminal device continuously listens on a PDCCH. When the DRX functionis configured for the terminal device, the terminal device listens onthe PDCCH in an active period.

In this embodiment of this disclosure, the terminal device determines,according to the DRX configuration, a type of a physical channel thatneeds to be listened on.

In addition, in the prior art, DRX application further requires the HARQRTT Timer, so that the terminal device can determine that retransmissiondata sent by a base station may appear how many subframes later at theearliest. In the prior art, the value of the HARQ RTT Timer is constant,where there are eight subframes in FDD, and k+4 subframes in TDD.Therefore, the RRC signaling does not carry the value of the HARQ RTTTimer. However, in this embodiment of this disclosure, the HARQ timingof the HARQ entities and/or processes corresponding to the cells of thedifferent RATs may be different. Therefore, in the DRX configurations,values may be assigned to HARQ RTT Timers of the HARQ entities and/orprocesses corresponding to the cells of the different RATs.

The DRX configurations may be sent to the terminal device by the accessnetwork device by using the RRC reconfiguration message. Specifically,the DRX configurations may be configured in the MAC-MainConfigSCell-rxyinformation element by using a parameter DRX-Config.

For example, this may be implemented in the following manner:

MAC-MainConfigSCell-rxy ::= SEQUENCE { stag-Id-r11 STAG-Id-r11 OPTIONAL,DRX-Config ... }

For the SPS operation, in the prior art, one terminal device has onlyone set of SPS configuration parameters. In this embodiment of thisdisclosure, in consideration that radio characteristics of cellscorresponding to different RATs are different, the access network devicemay separately define independent SPS configurations for cellscorresponding to different RATs of one terminal.

The SPS configuration may include an SPS configuration parameter in theprior art, for example, at least one of: a semi-persistent schedulingcell radio network temporary identifier (SPS-C-RNTI) used for PDCCHscrambling (16 bits); a semi-persistent scheduling period (there are aminimum of 10 subframes, and a maximum of 640 subframes; and asemi-persistent scheduling period such as 32 subframes, 64 subframes, or128 subframes that are not a multiple of 10 is further included); atotal quantity of HARQ processes for downlink semi-persistentscheduling; an uplink semi-persistent scheduling interval(semiPersistSchedIntervalUL); a downlink semi-persistent schedulinginterval (semiPersistSchedIntervalDL); a quantity of implicitdeactivated null frames; a quantity of SPS HARQ processes(numberOfConfSPS-Processes); a parameter used for calculating a subframeoffset value Subframe Offset value of the SPS; or the like.

In step 530 and step 540, after receiving corresponding data packetsoffloaded to the RATs, the network devices of the at least two RATnetworks process the data packets by using at least one HARQ process anda baseband processing unit that are of cells corresponding to the RATnetworks, and then send processed data packets to the terminal device byusing an antenna. As described above, it is optional that the datapackets are processed by using the at least one HARQ process of thecells corresponding to the RAT networks.

As a receive end of the data packets, the second network node receivesthe data packets by using antennas of different RATs, processes the datapackets by using a HARQ process and a baseband processing unit atcorresponding physical layers, and then sends processed data packets toa shared MAC layer to perform an operation such as demultiplexing. Adata packet obtained after demultiplexing is performed at the shared MAClayer is an aggregated data packet. The MAC layer sends the processeddata to an RLC layer and a PDCP layer for processing, and the data isfinally sent to an application layer.

Description is given by using an uplink service as an example. Thenetwork devices of the at least two cells separately receive datapackets, and separately process the data packets by using the HARQprocess and the baseband processing unit at the physical layer. Then,the network devices of the at least two RAT networks send processed datapackets to a network device that has a shared MAC entity. The shared MACentity performs an operation such as demultiplexing on the data packetsreceived from the at least two RATs, and separately sends processed datapackets to the RLC layer and the PDCP layer for processing, and the datapackets are finally sent to the application layer.

For a downlink service, processing of the terminal device is similar tothis, and details are not described in this specification.

In another optional implementation, in step 510, the MAC entityallocates the data packets to a HARQ entity shared by the at least twoRAT networks.

In this implementation, the at least two cells share at least one HARQentity, and the HARQ entity maintains different HARQ processes. For aprocessing manner in this embodiment, refer to the description in theforegoing. Same content is not described again.

The MAC entity sends the data packets to the at least one HARQ entityshared by the at least two cells, and the data packets are processed bythe HARQ processes maintained by the HARQ entity.

For example, when the data packets are same data packets of a sameservice, the data packets include a first data packet and a second datapacket, and the first data packet and the second data packet are thesame data packets of the same service. That is, the first data packetand the second data packet are the same data packet. The first datapacket is allocated to a first cell in the at least two cells, and thesecond data packet is allocated to a second cell in the at least twocells. When the at least two cells share one HARQ entity, the first datapacket and the second data packet are corresponding to one HARQ process,and the HARQ process is maintained by the HARQ entity. In this case, itmay also be considered that the at least two cells may also share oneHARQ process.

Likewise, the second network node only needs to receive data by usingantennas of different RATs, processes the data at corresponding physicallayers, then sends processed data to a joint MAC layer fordemultiplexing, sends demultiplexed data to the RLC layer and the PDCPlayer for processing, and finally sends processed data to an upper-layer(the application layer).

In this embodiment of this disclosure, the shared MAC layer is used forimplementing the multi-standard radio network coordination technology,and a new technology that can implement tight coupling coordination ofmulti-standard radio networks is used. The sending device that has theshared MAC layer may aggregate service data of radio networks ofdifferent standards at the MAC layer, and effectively map the servicedata onto the radio networks of the different standards, so as to ensuresmooth merging of different network deployment. Further, in thisembodiment of this disclosure, service offloading can be effectivelyperformed based on a radio link status, so as to reduce an end-to-enddelay, an average residence serving time, and a waiting time in abuffer. Therefore, coordination among the radio networks of differentstandards can further achieve a carrier aggregation (CA) effect in LTE.

A protocol stack according to another embodiment of this disclosure maybe shown in FIG. 6. A difference between this embodiment and theforegoing embodiment lies in that a PDCP entity and an RLC entity arecanceled, and functions, function subsets, or enhanced functionscorresponding to the PDCP entity and the RLC entity are all integratedinto one MAC entity, that is, the MAC entity implements the functions ofthe PDCP entity and the RLC entity, so that the MAC entity can performcentral processing and scheduling on IP data packets at an applicationlayer. For example, the MAC entity performs one or more of ROHC,security, cascading/segmentation, ARQ, or other processing.

In addition, for offloading and another function of the MAC entity,refer to the description in the foregoing embodiment. In this case, theMAC entity directly processes the IP data packets rather than processesdata packets processed at a PDCP layer and/or an RLC layer.

This embodiment of this disclosure can achieve the effect of theforegoing embodiment. In addition, based on the foregoing embodiment, inthis embodiment of this disclosure, processing does not need to beseparately performed at the PDCP layer and the RLC layer, so thatprocessing is more concise, and a delay is shorter.

To implement the foregoing embodiment, an embodiment of this disclosurefurther provides a network device. It should be noted that the networkdevice can implement the method in the foregoing embodiment, andtherefore, for specific details, refer to the description in theforegoing embodiment. For brevity, same content is not described in thefollowing.

As shown in FIG. 7, the network device may include a MAC entity unit 710and a sending unit 720. The network device is referred to as a firstnetwork node. The MAC entity unit 710 is configured to allocate datapackets to at least one HARQ unit corresponding to at least two cells,where the at least two cells use different radio access technologiesRATs, the at least two cells share one HARQ unit or each of the at leasttwo cells is corresponding to one HARQ unit, and the HARQ unit is a HARQentity and/or a HARQ process. The sending unit 720 is configured to sendthe data packets to a second network node by using the at least twocells.

Optionally, the data packets are different data packets of a sameservice, or the data packets are same data packets of a same service, orthe data packets are data packets of different services.

Further, the data packets include a first data packet and a second datapacket, the first data packet is allocated to a first cell in the atleast two cells, the second data packet is allocated to a second cell inthe at least two cells, and the first data packet and the second datapacket are different data packets of a same service, or the first datapacket and the second data packet are data packets of differentservices.

The at least two cells share one HARQ entity, the first data packet andthe second data packet are corresponding to different HARQ processesrespectively, and the different HARQ processes are maintained by theHARQ entity; or each of the at least two cells is corresponding to oneHARQ entity, the first cell is corresponding to a first HARQ entity, thesecond cell is corresponding to a second HARQ entity, the first datapacket is corresponding to a first HARQ process, the first HARQ processis maintained by the first HARQ entity, the second data packet iscorresponding to a second HARQ process, and the second HARQ process ismaintained by the second HARQ entity.

Alternatively, the data packets include a first data packet and a seconddata packet, the first data packet and the second data packet are samedata packets of a same service, the first data packet is allocated to afirst cell in the at least two cells, and the second data packet isallocated to a second cell in the at least two cells.

The at least two cells share one HARQ entity, the first data packet andthe second data packet are corresponding to one HARQ process, and theHARQ process is maintained by the HARQ entity; or each of the at leasttwo cells is corresponding to one HARQ entity, the first cell iscorresponding to a first HARQ entity, the second cell is correspondingto a second HARQ entity, the first data packet is corresponding to afirst HARQ process, the first HARQ process is maintained by the firstHARQ entity, the second data packet is corresponding to a second HARQprocess, and the second HARQ process is maintained by the second HARQentity.

Optionally, the network device further includes a PDCP entity unitand/or an RLC entity unit 730.

The PDCP entity unit and/or the RLC entity unit 730 are/is configured toprocess application layer data packets to obtain the data packets. Itshould be noted that herein, the PDCP entity unit and/or the RLC entityunit may mean that there is only the PDCP entity unit, or there is onlythe RLC entity unit, or there are both the PDCP entity unit and the RLCentity unit. Specifically, if there is only the PDCP entity unit, thePDCP entity unit is configured to perform PDCP layer processing on theapplication layer data packets to obtain the data packets. A function ofan RLC layer may be implemented by the PDCP entity unit, or may beimplemented by the MAC entity unit. If there is only the RLC entityunit, the RLC entity unit is configured to process the application layerdata packets to obtain the data packets. In this case, the RLC entityunit may be further capable of performing corresponding PDCP layerprocessing on the application layer data packets. If the network deviceincludes the PDCP entity unit and the RLC entity unit, the PDCP entityunit is configured to perform PDCP layer processing on the applicationlayer data packets to obtain PDCP data packets, and the RLC entity unitis configured to perform RLC layer processing on the PDCP data packetsto obtain the data packets. Then, the MAC entity unit 710 allocates thedata packets to the at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the at leasttwo cells.

Optionally, the MAC entity unit 710 is further configured to process theapplication layer data packets to obtain the data packets.

Further, the MAC entity unit 710 is configured to allocate, in thefollowing manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells:

allocating the data packets to the at least one HARQ unit correspondingto the at least two cells according to at least one of: a quality ofservice parameter of a service, radio channel statuses of the differentRATs, an average packet loss rate of each of the different RATs, averagechannel utilization of each of the different RATs, or characteristics ofthe different RATs. For the characteristics of the different RATs, referto the description in the foregoing.

Further, the network device may further include a receiving unit 740.

The receiving unit 740 is configured to receive a first message, wherethe first message includes at least one of the following information:radio channel statuses corresponding to the different RATs respectively,information about a RAT selected by the second network node, informationabout a cell corresponding to a RAT selected by the second network node,or information about a carrier corresponding to a RAT selected by thesecond network node; and

the MAC entity unit 710 is specifically configured to allocate, in thefollowing manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells: allocating, according to theinformation in the first message, the data packets to the at least oneHARQ unit corresponding to the at least two cells.

Further, the receiving unit 740 may be further configured to receive anuplink rate control parameter sent by the second network node, where theuplink rate control parameter is set according to the characteristicsand priorities of the RATs corresponding to the at least two cells; and

the MAC entity unit 710 is specifically configured to allocate, in thefollowing manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells: allocating, according to theuplink rate control parameter, the data packets to the at least one HARQunit corresponding to the at least two cells.

Further, the sending unit 720 is further configured to: directly orindirectly send a buffer status report BSR to the second network node,where the BSR includes information about a RAT selected by the firstnetwork node or information about cells, carriers, logical channels, orlogical channel groups corresponding to the different RATs; and/ordirectly or indirectly send a scheduling request SR to the secondnetwork node, where the SR includes information about the at least twoRATs or information about cells, carriers, logical channels, or logicalchannel groups corresponding to the at least two RATs.

Further, the receiving unit 740 may be further configured to: after thesending unit 720 directly or indirectly sends the buffer status reportBSR to the second network node, and/or directly or indirectly sends thescheduling request SR to the second network node, receive resourcescheduling information sent by the second network node, where theresource scheduling information includes resources that are of the atleast two cells and that are allocated by the second network node to thefirst network node; and

the MAC entity unit 710 is specifically configured to allocate, in thefollowing manner, the data packets to the at least one HARQ unitcorresponding to the at least two cells: The MAC entity unit allocatesthe data packets to the at least one HARQ unit corresponding to the atleast two cells according to the resources that are of the at least twocells and that are allocated by the second network node to the firstnetwork node.

Further, each of the at least two cells is corresponding to one HARQunit, one of the first network node and the second network node is anaccess network device, and the other one of the first network node andthe second network node is a terminal device; and the sending unit 720is further configured to: before the MAC entity unit 710 allocates thedata packets to HARQ processes of at least two RAT networks, send asecond message to the terminal device, where the second message includesconfiguration information of HARQ round trip time RTT timing time of acell corresponding to each of the different RATs, and/or configurationinformation of discontinuous reception DRX of a cell corresponding toeach of the different RATs.

In this embodiment, for a definition of each parameter and a specificimplementation of each step, refer to the description in the foregoing.

It should be noted that each module of the network device performsinformation exchange, an execution process, and other content of themethod in another embodiment of this disclosure. For details, refer tothe description in the method embodiment. In addition, this networkdevice embodiment and the foregoing method embodiment are based on asame conception, and a technical effect of this embodiment is the sameas that in the method embodiment of this disclosure. For specificcontent, refer to the description in the method embodiment of thisdisclosure. Details are not described herein.

It should be noted that in the foregoing network device embodiment,division of each functional module is only an example for description.In an actual application, according to a requirement, for example,according to a configuration requirement of corresponding hardware orconsideration of convenience for implementation of software, theforegoing functions may be allocated to different functional modules forcompletion. That is, internal structures of the user equipment and abastion station are divided into different functional modules, so as tocomplete all or a part of functions described above. Moreover, in actualapplication, corresponding functional modules in this embodiment may beimplemented by corresponding hardware, or may be completed bycorresponding hardware by executing corresponding software. For example,the sending unit 720 may be hardware that has a function of executingthe sending unit, such as a transmitter, or may be a general processoror another hardware device that can execute a corresponding computerprogram, so as to complete the foregoing function. For another example,the MAC entity unit 710, the PDCP entity unit and/or the RLC entity unit730 may be hardware that has a function of executing the processingunit, such as a processor, or may be another hardware device that canexecute a corresponding computer program, so as to complete theforegoing functions. For still another example, the receiving unit maybe hardware that has a function of executing the receiving unit, such asa receiver, or may be a general processor or another hardware devicethat can execute a corresponding computer program, so as to complete theforegoing functions.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, an embodiment of this disclosure furtherprovides a network device that can perform the method in the foregoingembodiment. The network device includes a processor 810, a receiver 820,and a transmitter 830. The processor 810 is communicatively connected tothe receiver 820 and the transmitter 830. The processor 810 canimplement the functions of the MAC entity unit 710 and the PDCP entityunit and/or the RLC entity unit 730 that are in the embodimentcorresponding to FIG. 7. The receiver 820 can implement the function ofthe receiving unit 740 in the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 7. Thetransmitter can implement the function of the sending unit 720 in theembodiment corresponding to FIG. 7.

It should be noted that the network devices shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8may be terminal devices, or may be access network devices, or may becore network devices. For this, refer to the description of the firstnetwork node in the foregoing.

In addition, an embodiment of this disclosure further provides awireless communications system, including the first network node and thesecond network node in the foregoing embodiment. Further, the wirelesscommunications system may further include one or more network devicescorresponding to the at least one cell in the foregoing embodiment.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or a partof the steps of the methods in the embodiments may be implemented by aprogram instructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in acomputer readable storage medium. The storage medium may include: aread-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk,or an optical disc.

The foregoing introduces in detail the method, the user equipment, andthe base station provided in the embodiments of this disclosure.Specific examples are used in this specification to describe theprinciple and implementations of this disclosure. The descriptions ofthe foregoing embodiments are merely intended to help understand themethod and core idea of this disclosure. In addition, a person skilledin the art may, according to the idea of this disclosure, makemodifications with respect to the specific implementations and theapplication scope. Therefore, the content of this specification shallnot be construed as a limitation on this disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a terminaldevice, a message from an access network device, wherein the messagecomprises configuration information of discontinuous reception (DRX) ofat least two cells, the at least two cells use different radio accesstechnologies (RATs); and using, by the terminal device according to theDRX configuration information, different DRX configurations for thedifferent RATs to perform DRX, wherein at least two of the differentRATs have different frame structures.
 2. The method according to claim1, wherein the DRX configuration information comprises durationinformation of a DRX retransmission timer, and wherein using differentDRX configurations for the different RATs to perform DRX comprises:using, by the terminal device, the DRX retransmission timer withdifferent durations for the different RATs to perform DRX.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the different frame structures comprise atleast one of following different characteristics: different transmissiontime intervals (TTI); and different cyclic prefixes (CP).
 4. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the DRX configuration informationcomprises duration information of a hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer, and using different DRXconfigurations for the different RATs to perform DRX comprises: usingthe HARQ RTT timer with different durations for the different RATs toperform DRX.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message isa radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 1 further comprising: receiving data packets from theaccess network device through the at least two cells.
 7. The methodaccording to claim 1 further comprising: allocating, by a single mediaaccess control (MAC) entity of the terminal device, data packets tohybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entities of the terminal device,wherein each of the HARQ entities is associated with one of at least twocells, and the HARQ entities share the single MAC entity; and sending,by the terminal device, the data packets to the access network devicethrough the at least two cells.
 8. The method according to claim 7,wherein before allocating data packets to the HARQ units, the methodfurther comprising: sending a scheduling request (SR) to the accessnetwork device, wherein the SR comprises at least one of following:information about the at least two RATs, information about logicalchannels associated with the at least two RATs, or information aboutlogical channel groups associated with the at least two RATs.
 9. Themethod according to claim 1 further comprising: receiving a secondmessage, wherein the second message comprises a semi-persistentscheduling (SPS) configuration for each of cells of the different RATs.10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the data packets are:different data packets of a same service; or same data packets of a sameservice; or data packets of different services.
 11. The method accordingto claim 7, wherein the allocating data packets to the HARQ entitiescomprises: allocating, by the MAC entity, the data packets to the HARQentities according to at least one of: a quality of service parameter ofa service, radio channel statuses of the different RATs, an averagepacket loss rate of each of the different RATs, average channelutilization of each of the different RATs, or characteristics of thedifferent RATs.
 12. An apparatus comprising: a processor coupled with anon-transitory storage medium, wherein the non-transitory storage mediumstores executable instructions, and the executable instructions, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive a messagefrom an access network device, wherein the message comprisesconfiguration information of discontinuous reception (DRX) of at leasttwo cells, the at least two cells use different radio accesstechnologies (RATs); and use, according to the DRX configurationinformation, different DRX configurations for the different RATs toperform DRX, wherein at least two of the different RATs have differentframe structures.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein theDRX configuration information comprises duration information of a DRXretransmission timer, and using different DRX configurations for thedifferent RATs to perform DRX comprises: using the DRX retransmissiontimer with different durations for the different RATs to perform DRX.14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the different framestructures comprise at least one of following different characteristics:different transmission time intervals (TTI); and different cyclicprefixes (CP).
 15. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the DRXconfiguration information comprises duration information of a hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer, and usingdifferent DRX configurations for the different RATs to perform DRXcomprises: using the HARQ RTT timer with different durations for thedifferent RATs to perform DRX.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 12,wherein the message is a radio resource control (RRC) reconfigurationmessage.
 17. The apparatus according to claim 12, the executableinstructions, when executed by the processor, further cause theapparatus to: allocate, by a single media access control (MAC) entity,data packets to hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entities, whereineach of the HARQ entities is associated with one of at least two cells,and the HARQ entities share the single MAC entity; and send the datapackets to the access network device through the at least two cells. 18.The apparatus according to claim 17, the executable instructions, whenexecuted by the processor, further cause the apparatus to: send ascheduling request (SR) to the access network device, wherein the SRcomprises at least one of following: information about the at least twoRATs, information about logical channels corresponding to the at leasttwo RATs, or information about logical channel groups corresponding tothe at least two RATs.
 19. The method according to claim 12, theexecutable instructions, when executed by the processor, further causethe apparatus to: receive a second message, wherein the second messagecomprises a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration for each ofcells of the different RATs.
 20. A computer-readable storage mediumcomprising instructions which, when executed by a terminal device, causethe terminal device to carry out: receive a message from an accessnetwork device, wherein the message comprises configuration informationof discontinuous reception (DRX) of at least two cells, the at least twocells use different radio access technologies (RATs); and use, accordingto the DRX configuration information, different DRX configurations forthe different RATs to perform DRX, wherein at least two of the differentRATs have different frame structures.